Automatic swimming pool cleaners include components for driving the pool cleaners along the floor and sidewalls of a swimming pool, either in a random or deliberate manner. For example, conventional pressure side cleaners and suction side cleaners often use hydraulic turbine assemblies as drive systems to drive one or more wheels. Robotic cleaners often include a motor and/or other mechanical system powered by an external power source to drive one or more wheels.
With respect to pressure side cleaners and suction cleaners, vacuum systems of the cleaners (e.g., to vacuum debris from the floor and sidewalls and deposit the debris into a debris bag or debris canister) are often integrated with the cleaners' drive systems. As a result, changes occurring in the drive system, such as turning or reversing motion, can affect the vacuum system. In some conventional pool cleaners, vacuum systems are only capable of vacuuming debris during forward motion of the drive system. In other conventional pool cleaners, rotation of separate drive wheels is linked such that the wheels may not be rotated independently of each other. Accordingly, these cleaners may not be steered by independent rotation of the drive wheels.
One known pool cleaning system includes sets of belt driven drive rollers, with a geared transmission providing power to the sets of rollers from a drive module. A single cam moves a shaft between different orientations in order to engage different gears associated with a single set of the drive rollers and thereby collectively drive the single set of the drive rollers in either a forward or a reverse direction. Such a system may not allow for independent control of different sets of rollers, which may limit the types of movement that may be executed by the system.
Another known pool cleaning system includes a plurality of separate cams that independently control drive wheels. Each cam causes a respective drive shaft to periodically pivot so that a first gear on each drive shaft engages peripheral teeth on the corresponding wheel to drive the wheel forward, or so that a second gear on the drive shaft engages central wheel teeth to drive the wheel in reverse. Such an arrangement may introduce undesirable complexity into the manufacture, assembly, and maintenance of the system.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a pool cleaner that addresses one or more of the above deficiencies. For example, it would be desirable to have a pool cleaner that provides for independent control of the rotational direction of multiple drive wheels and continuous cleaning capability regardless of travel direction, with relatively low complexity of manufacturing, assembly, or maintenance.